• Indices from Wall Street continued to gain yesterday. S&P 500 gained 0.28%, Dow Jones moved 0.11% higher and Nasdaq added 0.23%. Russell 2000 lagged and finished trading 0.82% lower

  • Stocks in Asia-Pacific traded mostly lower today. Nikkei dropped almost 1%, Kospi moved 0.2% lower and indices from China traded 0.3-1.6% lower. S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5%
  • DAX futures point to a flat opening of the European cash session today
  • Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said that more decisive actions against Omicron and Delta are required in Chinese virus hotspots
  • According to prepared text of the speech, Fed’s Brainard will tell US lawmakers today that inflation is too high and bringing it back towards the goal is an important task
  • Fed’s Daly said that part of policy accommodation needs to be removed. Daly also said that she supports beginning of rate hike cycle in March
  • Fed’s Bullard said that 4 rate hikes this year are likely. Fed’s Harker said he is open to more than 3 rate hikes in 2022 if situation requires it
  • Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, warned that global ports remain congested. However, situation in European ports is said to be improving
  • Cryptocurrencies continued recovery yesterday with Bitcoin climbing above $43,000
  • Precious metals and oil trade lower
  • Turkish lira drops over 2% against USD and EUR
  • NZD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while CHF and EUR lag the most. Overall, ranges o